“Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind,
As man’s ingratitude.” 

~ William Shakespeare

It’s been a long time since I’ve quoted my old friend, Bill. He and I became well-acquainted when I studied Renaissance Literature and Shakespeare’s Tragedies at Santa Clara University back in the late 70s. I’ll admit that I was a bit taken aback when my professor, Dr. Diane Dreher, casually referred to Shakespeare as “Bill” during a class discussion. When I thought about it, though, it made sense. Shakespeare was just an ordinary guy with extraordinary talent. The familiarity with which Dr. Dreher spoke of him was refreshing.

As much as I might want to discuss such topics as the moral development of the major characters in Hamlet, for the past several hours my attention has been focused on the weather. It was a bit breezy when I woke up this morning, but I was unprepared for the biblical-force winds which developed throughout the day and have continued well into the evening. By 3:00 this afternoon, as I was driving from my home in West San José to a restaurant on Stevens Creek Boulevard, debris was being violently blown across the streets. Large and small branches from neighborhood trees littered the roadways. Even my 2005 Honda Accord was fighting the force of the wind.

This evening, here in my home office, I’ve had what I can only describe as a Pentecost experience. The wind has been howling outside the windows, mercilessly whipping the long branches of the redwood trees. A check with the local news informed me that we were experiencing wind gusts up to 54 miles per hour. I can only imagine that this is what it must have been like for the apostles in the upper room. Fortunately, I had nowhere I needed to go tonight, so I’ve just hunkered down here with a large cup of hot chocolate and some raspberry Milano cookies.

Perhaps I’ve simply forgotten, but I cannot recall extremes in the weather such as we’ve experienced in the San Francisco Bay Area in the past year or so. After several years of drought conditions here in California, we got a soaking in the month of January. In some Bay Area locations, this year’s rainfall is more than 200% of normal. Several weeks ago, the heavy rain was accompanied by gale-force winds, prompting one local television news channel to declare a Level 5 storm, the most severe on the storm impact scale. And now, with moderate rain in the forecast for the next few days, the wind is wreaking havoc throughout the greater San Francisco area once again.

Getting back to Bill’s quote above, I don’t want to sound ungrateful. We needed the rain, lots of rain, and we got it. The wind, despite the destruction it has caused, is doing an effective job of cleaning out the trees, which, after years without rain, were in desperate need of a good wash and dry. I’m grateful for this, as well. 

So you won’t hear me complaining about the wind, nor the rain. Nature is doing what nature does. I’ll just stay inside, do a little reading, a bit of writing, and enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.